Four men dressed in full black suits come into view immediately as she steps into the house. Alex notices her parents seated on the couch with her father holding her mom close to his side, his left arm draped tightly over her torso. Everyone turns to look at the door as she walks in, the immediate attention making her freeze on the spot, not knowing what to do but look at the floor beneath her feet. She slowly looks up at her parents after a couple of seconds of composing herself, and she catches her mom looking at her, tears running down her eyes. Shock, panic, and confusion all over her face, Alex attempts to rush to her side, but her face meets a black wall of muscle that was not there before. Forced to step back, she sees the large man in front of her, and before she can react, she spots another one headed to her side and standing next to her to her left. Confused, she takes a step to her right and stretches her neck to see her parents and calls out to them, needing an explanation of what's going on.
"Mom, Dad?" she half whispers as she focuses her eyes on her parents. All her mom does is bury her face in her dad's chest, and her dad barely looks at her, his eyes focused on her left.
What is he even looking at? Isn't she the one who is important at this moment? Did he not see what just happened?
She follows her dad's line of sight, and her eyes come into contact with red, sharp eyes staring right back at her intensely. She is immediately drawn to them, the intensity robbing her of the ability to breathe and blink. A vase shattering in the kitchen jogs her head back to reality as she breathes and blinks rapidly from her eyes burning because of the long eye contact.
Who is this man? Why is he in our living room? Why are my parents scared of him? Why does he look so devilishly handsome and cruel at the same time? What does he want?
The man stands up, his tall, wide frame taking Alex by shock, but she tries to mask it, watching him walk past her and holding up two fingers, a signal taken by the men in black, and one rushes to open the front door for him before he gets there. Stopping for a couple of seconds to look back at her once more, a strand of his silky black hair falling ever so delicately in front of his perfectly sculpted face, before he turns and walks out of the door with his head slightly bent over to avoid his forehead bumping onto the top part of the door frame. Suddenly the two men who were standing beside Alex grab a hold of each arm and start dragging her towards the door. "Mom! Dad! Please don't let them take me…what's going on?"
She screams at the top of her lungs, looking back towards her parents, who are now huddled up on the couch full of sobbing, barely looking at her. She struggles to get out of their tight grip and thrashes her feet to prevent them from getting her out of the door, but all these efforts seem futile as she sees a massive hand holding a small white cloth come over her face, the cloth immediately covering her nose. Panic strikes; her first instinct is to hold her breath as she attempts to swing her head from right to left vigorously, hoping to get the cloth away from her face, but the grip only tightens. The feeling of her lungs burning brings out a feeling of hopelessness as she takes one troubled deep breath, the sharp acidic scent fills her nostrils and lungs. Her limbs start to slowly turn into jelly from the inside as she takes the third sniff. Barely conscious, she feels one of the men carry her bridal style, the darkness outside confusing her mushy brain, wondering whether it's already nighttime or is it death is approaching. Tears run down her eyes as she slowly registers what is happening. She's being kidnapped from her parent's place, and they did not do anything to stop them.
What do they want with me? Am I being sold? What did I do to deserve this? Is it because of the trouble I've caused them?
The last thing she could remember was being laid in the back of a car before it all went dark.
Alex blinks once, twice, and again, softly groaning, her right hand coming up to hold her forehead as she feels the headache hit. She hears voices, but she can't tell what exactly they're talking about or who they belong to.
"The girl?"
"Yes sir… we checked and ensured... yes sir."
"Make sure… don't fail me."
As her eyesight adjusts and becomes clearer, the first thought is to try and make sense of her surroundings. The image of the roof of a car is the first to hit, and she slowly sits up, feeling dizziness sweep up in her head, but she firmly uses her left hand to act as support for her body against the car seat. The feel of leather on her hands was a sign that she was in a luxury car, adding to the fact that the interior looked extremely lavish. She takes a minute to flex her joints slowly as images of what happened earlier flash through her mind all too fast, and she immediately holds her head in both her hands, tears already at the brink of her eyes as her thoughts start to run wild once more.
Where am I? Why did my parents let all this happen? What's going to happen to me next? Are they going to kill me now? Did I offend anyone I don't know of by accident? Why is all this happening to me?
The sound of heavy footsteps coming closer to the car had her in a panic frenzy as she tried quickly to get rid of the tears using the end of her shirt's sleeve. Her brain went into flight or fight mode immediately, like a switch had been flipped. Her eyes went straight for the car handle, jerking it but noticing it did not budge.
So the doors are locked... Fuck… What do I do now? They're getting closer! I'm fucked…
The door clicks and swings open; a tall, dark, well-built man comes into view, looking directly at her. "Step out, let's go." His deep voice booms into the dead silence of the night, the sudden brightness having her blink a couple of times before she nods and scoots closer to the door. The nameless man moves aside to allow her to get out of the car, holding the door wide open.
A gravel path beneath her feet extended towards a large, dark door of the majestic-looking castle, standing high and tall with the full moon illuminating it from the background. The path having been lit by tall fire lamps that barely provided any heat in this chilly night, she could barely focus on taking it all in when she felt a strong grip on her right arm jerking her forward. Grunting, she puts one foot in front of the other and starts walking down the path, taking deep breaths as she gets closer to the door.
I got to stay composed for this; I must not alarm him yet...
Her eyes slowly scan her sides, and she notices men dressed in dark suits walking around the castles, guards she presumed. She could count four on each side, two patrolling and two standing motionless with guns at their sides. Cursing under her breath, she tries wiggling her arm from his grip as she turns to look at him with her famous fake smile. "Can you please let me go? I promise to behave and walk on my own. I don't want to cause you any trouble." He glares back at her, his eyes boring into hers intensely as if searching for any sign of deception. "Please, I have nowhere to run to," Alex says the truth of the statement and sadness in her voice, making her voice reduced to a whisper.
She could see his eyes soften, which was followed by his grip loosening on her arm, and she slowly let her arm slip off from his palm, softly rubbing on the spot that was a little sore. They get to the door, and he goes ahead, opening the massive door for her, grunting from the weight of the door, which had her questioning how exactly heavy it was and how much of a setback that was since she is not necessarily strong. She could easily sense that she would barely be able to move an inch of that massive black wooden door.
Escape plan one failed.
She steps in, and the first thing that has her agape is the large, luxurious glass chandelier hanging from the top floor that lights up the entire space. All she could see was golden light shining back at her, a reflection from the decorations around the house. She could even tell the air she was breathing was different, clean, and refined. Two thin women dressed in what looked like maid uniforms pass by her, throwing glances and slightly bowing their heads. Alex just looks at them, confused, as they disappear behind the door to her left. That's when she takes notice that the middle place has branched off to her left and right, with spiral stairs directly in front of her leading to the upper floors.
A slight shove from the man she had temporarily forgotten about who was standing behind her has her stumbling forward, but she manages to catch herself before she could embarrass herself with her face planted on the floor.
"Let us go, we're late. Master's waiting." He says as his hand points towards the stairs, signaling that they'll be heading up.